SUMMER OF 2006

 Local Members Reports

From Catrina Sims

I am writing to inform you on the competition that was held in Bogotá, Colombia. It was a very well organized and put together show. There were about 70 children in all who competed.

Everyone we met in Colombia was very courteous and obliging to Meghan and myself as well as the people from the other countries. I think I can definitely say that we had a magnificent time! We were not put in any predicaments what so ever that might have caused us harm. I would love to be able to go to this competition again in the future.

The horses were, all in all, pretty good. Of course you are going to get the few that are not so easy to ride. Meghan and I thought that we had drawn a very good horse as he was excellent on the practice day.  Meghan had placed 7th out of 35.  But as the competition went on, he became very tough.  He was also not very good for the owner.  Meghan was upset at her end result, as this was the first time that Bermuda has been invited to this competition.  She really wanted to do her country proud!  She still feels that it was an excellent and amazing experience to be able to travel so far and meet such wonderful people from all over the world. I, too, feel this way.

I would like to thank the BEF very much for selecting me to be the coach on this wonderful trip!  It was amazing!  I appreciate all that you have done for Meghan and me to be able to go on this trip with funding.  I have thanked the organizers of the show personally while I was there, but if you speak to them in the near future, please thank them again for me.

Thank you and sincerely,

Catrina Sims

Submitted by Harriet Richold and Mary Frances Gaglio

Two of our founding BEF members joined four ladies from Scotland and a couple from Ireland on an 8 day riding safari in Kenya. Described as an experience of a lifetime and reminiscent of Pony Club Camp!  Mary Frances and Harriet rode up to 7 hours a day on wonderful Somali/TB horses who climbed the crest of a rocky mountain, clambered over larva rock for over a mile (lead by their riders), galloped after herds of Wildebeest and jumped gaping holes in the ground-all with NO SHOES!  The owner of Safaris Unlimited (who conducted the ride) will be coming to Bermuda next April/May to give a slide presentation of the safaris offered, which include photography and riding groups, in various areas of  Kenya. This is an opportunity not to be missed.

XIX Gran Copa International at Centro Ecuestre, San Juan, Puerto Rico

August 30, 2006 to September 3, 2006

Kindly submitted by Jean Wolosiuk

Catrina Sims, Nicholas DeCosta, Stephanie Wilkinson and Catherine Jones represented Bermuda in the 3 days of competition in Puerto Rico.  The team arrived on the 29^th for the draw for horses as the riders had to share a horse with their Puerto Rican owner.  The next day allowed the riders to ride their horses and jump the permitted number of warm up fences.  The opening ceremony followed on the 31^st with the other teams consisting of 9 riders from Ecuador, 1 from Hungry, 3 from Jamaica, 1 from Peru, 15 from Uruguay, 3 from the USA and 27 from Puerto Rico who all marched into the arena behind their flags.

The competition started immediately afterwards with the first round which was a speed class broken down into 4 groups which were further divided by age; 0.8-0.9m open/ 12 and under, 1m open, 1.05-1.10m open/13 to 14 years and 1.20metres open/15 to 18 years.  Catherine competed in the 1m open category, Nick in the 1.05-1.10m open category, Catrina in the 1.20m open category and Stephanie jumped 1.20m in the 15 to 18 age group.

Each horse had to jump 2 rounds against the clock, first with its owner and then with the foreign competitor.  Stephanie finished first in her age group with 4 faults in the fastest time, Nick had 20 faults but still finished 4^th in his group, Catherine had 8 faults which put her in 5^th place in the 1m open category and Catrina had 17 faults and finished 6^th in the 1.20m category. 

The second round of jumping on Friday consisted of 2 rounds, the first was not against the clock and if the competitor was clear at this stage they immediately proceeded to the second round which was against the clock.  Stephanie won again in her age group, Nick and Catrina did not go clear in the 1^st round so did not proceed to the 2^nd round and Catherine placed 8^th having gone clear in the first round.

Saturday was a rest day for horses and riders and was enjoyably spent at the breeding farm of J. Adalberto Roig who had 120 race horses, hunters and jumpers on his farm.  As the farm was on the south of the Island and San Juan is in the north, we traveled by yellow school bus over the mountains of Puerto Rico which gave us an opportunity to see more of the Island.

Sunday saw the final day of competition.  The day started with Mass at the equestrian centre attended by many of the competitors and their dogs.  The competition was the usual 1^st round not against the clock and those going clear returned for a jump off over a shortened course.  Stephanie was again victorious in the 15-18 age group on her mount Dubi Dubi, Catherine also placed 1^st in the 1m open category winning an exciting jump off on her 15^th birthday, and Nick placed 3^rd in his group so it was an excellent day for the Bermuda team.

The final prize giving was on Sunday evening when Stephanie received yet another large glass trophy to carry home as she was overall champion in the 15-18 age group.  Trophies were also awarded to the horse owners as the horses had been collecting points based on their performance in each round.  Dubi Dubi, Stephaine’s borrowed mount was Champion in the 1.20m category and Renzo Catherine’s horse was reserve champion in the 1m group.

The food, music, dancing and organization offered by the Puerto Rican hosts was tremendous.  Stephanie and Catherine stayed with host families who were wonderful and they were able to practice their Spanish as Spanish is more often used in Puerto Rico than English. I would definitely recommend that this as a good international competition for our young riders.

Jeff and Luan Sousa

Jeff and Luan Sousa visited Germany during the early part of the Summer

Follow the link to their experience.

http://www.uweschwanz.com/en/news/bermuda/php  You may have to type this link onto the internet to get this website.

Stephanie Kemp

My stay with Jillian Terceira in Holland.

It was a great experience for me.  I loved being there.  The horse that I rode was called Brie, but everyone called her cheese.  She is a grey mare, warmblood.  She is a very big horse compared to Jungle Boogie (aka Masterpiece).

The first show that we went to was a Hunter show to get me used to the new horse, I didn’t do so well in that & I know I could have done better.  The second show that we went to was a big show.  Brie wasn’t good for me so Jill got on her and she tried to stop with Jill but she wouldn’t let her.  After that they put me back on Brie and I jumped a clear round!!

Before we went to the next show we did a lot of training at home.  We worked on my rhythm to the jump, how my position should be and how to get her controlled after the jumps.  One of my biggest problems was that I was coming up after the jump to fast;  I wouldn’t let Brie finish jumping the jump.  I was always used to coming up fast because of all my horses that I’ve ridden in the past.  The next week we went to another big show that Jill and Patsy (Michel’s daughter) did.  I got the experience of staying in the horsebox it was really fun.

After that show we went to another show and I did very well, I got 4^th in the 1m class and won 11 euros!.  I also did the 1m10 class but didn’t place as I had 4 faults.

The next show we went to there were a lot of people who saw me at the first show and they said I had improved a lot.  The more I competed on Brie the better she got.

In my last show we finally made it to the jump-off and we got 4 faults at 1m10 and second in the 1m.

Jill’s barn is huge, on the whole property there are 3 barns, 9 big paddocks, 2 indoor rings, an outdoor ring and 2 lunging areas.  Jill owns 1 of the 3 barns and in it are 20 stalls, 3 wash bays and 1 indoor ring.  Nice sized fee and tack room.  She has 3 big dogs, 1 small dog and 1 cat.